31 October 2014

Enterprise first flew across my television screen when I was twelve years old and she has been my constant companion ever since.

I stood in the desert when I was twenty-three to see Enterprise drop out of the sky and flare, roughly embracing the dry lakebed at a breathtaking speed and trailing a cloud of dust. I was sad to learn that Enterprise would never fly in space; she was too heavy. Still, we love her, don't we, as she poses on display, the first of her kind.

I stood in the desert again when I was fifty to see a smaller enterprise, a feathery and private little affair, drop out of the sky and flare, gently kissing the paved runway before a carnival-like crowd. From this small origin evolved the next Enterprise.

My heart breaks again to see another Enterprise, a young Virgin, come to her end without ever flying in space as she so longed to do, to see her intelligently designed body crumpled in the desert in full view of the world.

Yet Enterprise still flies. She always will. "There are plenty of letters left in the alphabet." And by the time we have used all of them, we will have met civilizations with other alphabets. And still she will fly.

Популярная мусыка космического веча:CD 77 (2003 г.)

The annual global celebration of "Yuri's Night," commemorating the April 1961 flight of Vostok 1, increases in popularity every year. As we enter the second half-century of human spaceflight, it is a time to reflect on the development of global space culture. It began in the 1950's as two distinct cultures--Soviet and American--reflecting the Cold War rivalry that fueled the Space Race. In the intervening decades there has been a blending of these two initial cultures, other nations have added their cultural voices, and the center of the emerging global space culture has shifted. National space cultures have displayed different emphases on science fiction and UFO themes versus devotion to national astronautic accomplishments. These and other factors may be leading cultural indicators of the vigor of national space efforts and their relevance to the global thrust into the final frontier.

The researcher seeks co-researchers with backgrounds in cultural anthropology and musicology with a strong interest in space history. Of particular interest is collaboration with researchers who are familiar with space-themed music from non-English speaking cultures.

At present, the music collection of nearly 1500 tracks is organized chronologically into 100 segments, each approximating the running time of a compact disc (CD), which include voice clips of important events to provide historical context. The play lists are being rolled out incrementally as research continues. Most of the music can be found online and downloaded free of charge. In addition, a library of song lyrics is in development.

This is music to fly to Mars by. If you listened to one hour every day, you would almost be there at the end of this collection!

Популярная мусыка космического веча:CD 76 (2003 г.)

The annual global celebration of "Yuri's Night," commemorating the April 1961 flight of Vostok 1, increases in popularity every year. As we enter the second half-century of human spaceflight, it is a time to reflect on the development of global space culture. It began in the 1950's as two distinct cultures--Soviet and American--reflecting the Cold War rivalry that fueled the Space Race. In the intervening decades there has been a blending of these two initial cultures, other nations have added their cultural voices, and the center of the emerging global space culture has shifted. National space cultures have displayed different emphases on science fiction and UFO themes versus devotion to national astronautic accomplishments. These and other factors may be leading cultural indicators of the vigor of national space efforts and their relevance to the global thrust into the final frontier.

The researcher seeks co-researchers with backgrounds in cultural anthropology and musicology with a strong interest in space history. Of particular interest is collaboration with researchers who are familiar with space-themed music from non-English speaking cultures.

At present, the music collection of nearly 1500 tracks is organized chronologically into 100 segments, each approximating the running time of a compact disc (CD), which include voice clips of important events to provide historical context. The play lists are being rolled out incrementally as research continues. Most of the music can be found online and downloaded free of charge. In addition, a library of song lyrics is in development.

This is music to fly to Mars by. If you listened to one hour every day, you would almost be there at the end of this collection!

29 October 2014

I became acquainted with Wayne White's work ten years ago. I do not recall that I have ever disagreed with him over legal principles; however, he makes specific assertions with which I disagree, as well as assumptions that tend to lead him into unconvincing arguments over unproductive points. Even so, White has informed my legal ideas to some extent, and to that extent I cite his work in my own.

Unfortunately, his latest article in the Space Review wanders from one issue to another as though browsing a smorgasbord, it contains unsupported assertions to which great exception can be taken, and its arguments are more normative than legal as he preaches to the choir. Thus, as one who shares many of his values regarding commercial activity in outer space, I must say that I cringed upon reading this article, as much for what it does not say as for what it says, because I had hoped for better work from him. But then, the Space Review is not a venue for presenting scholarly work, so perhaps my expectations were too high. In particular, his pot shots at the 1979 Moon Agreement, which is such a soft target, miss their mark entirely.

… [the Moon Agreement] would establish an international organization to govern resource appropriation.

This is an often repeated misinterpretation of Article 11, paragraph 5, which establishes nothing whatsoever, but merely commits states parties to "undertake to establish an international regime, including appropriate procedures, to govern the exploitation of the natural resources of the moon as such exploitation is about to become feasible." In the legal sense, a "regime" is simply a set of rules and procedures to regulate an activity; it is not an organization, nor is it a government in the sense of a fascist "regime" or a communist "regime." Despite decades of disinformation linking the Moon Agreement with the Convention on the Law of the Sea, the fact remains that there is no language in the former that compares to provisions for the International Seabed Authority in the latter.

Prohibition of property rights is contrary to western nations’ laws and institutions. And the international resource organization, if ever established [in accordance with Article 11, paragraph 5 of the Moon Agreement], could impose additional costs and regulatory uncertainty upon a nascent industry.

First of all, there is the not so subtle insinuation that the Moon Agreement prohibits property rights. In fact, Article 11, paragraph 3 states in part: "Neither the surface nor the subsurface of the moon, nor any part thereof or natural resources in place, shall become property of any State, international intergovernmental or non-governmental organization, national organization or non-governmental entity or of any natural person." Although this prohibits fee simple real property rights, other types of property rights are not excluded. As White has argued, the freedom from interference principle (Article 8, paragraph 3) implies a right to a zone of exclusivity for as long as an operation is ongoing. Furthermore, although the wording of the provision is negative and therefore its meaning is not readily apparent, natural resources removed from their place may become property, in accordance with the Lockean principle of mixing soil (of the commons) and (ones own) labor to create a private right. This provision of the Moon Agreement codified what had already become customary international law through the many examples of transferring lunar samples from one owner to another, the "history of resource ownership" that White discusses. Between the customary international law established by state practice before the Moon Agreement and the provisions of Article 11, paragraph 3, the right to extract and to own, to transfer ownership and thereby to profit from extraterrestrial resources cannot be the subject of any doubt. When U.S. negotiator S. Neil Hosenball proposed the insertion of the term "in place" on 17 April 1973, he explained that the purpose was "to indicate that the prohibition against assertion of property rights would not apply to natural resources once reduced to possession through exploitation either in the preregime period or, subject to the rules and procedures that a regime would constitute, following the establishment of the regime." The Legal Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS) accepted the U.S. amendment without objection to Hosenball’s statement, thus this interpretation reflects the consensus of the committee, and any contradictory interpretation is incorrect. (Parenthetically, notice that Hosenball referred to "the rules and procedures that a regime would constitute;" only this and nothing more, not any "organization.") Yet White believes that the 1967 Outer Space Treaty "is more benign." That cannot possibly be true if, as White states, "The Outer Space Treaty does not specifically refer to resources or real property rights." White is on the wrong side of the argument in opposing the Moon Agreement; logically, a proponent of extraterrestrial resource property rights should also be a proponent of the Moon Agreement. Instead, White "finds" a right in the Outer Space Treaty that is not explicitly in its text, just as "activist" judges "find" rights in the U.S. Constitution and make new law from the bench on that basis. He would not need to resort to this extremity if he did not oppose the Moon Agreement.

Secondly, White's speculation that a regime "could impose additional costs and regulatory uncertainty upon a nascent industry" does not bear close examination. The purpose of any regime is to create regulatory certainty, so this would more likely encourage than discourage a nascent industry. Furthermore, the last thing that a regime, even if no more than a tiny office staffed by a handful of administrators, would desire to impose onerous costs to would kill an industry that justified the existence of their office. How many people go about searching for golden-egg-laying geese to kill? On the other hand, few can be so naive as to imagine that the regulatory certainty fostering a nascent industry will be free of cost. As White suggests, "these costs can be recovered through filing and processing fees."

Other clauses in the [Moon Agreement] say that commercial appropriation is not permitted until the international resource organization is established, and only after that organization approves commercial ventures on a case-by-case basis.

It is unsurprising that White does not cite chapter and verse, as there is no such provision. This is another one of those ancient Moon Agreement myths, that it imposes a moratorium on commercial use until a regime is established, and it is one of the most illogical arguments against the Agreement. As already pointed out, states parties to the Moon Agreement "undertake to establish an international regime, including appropriate procedures, to govern the exploitation of the natural resources of the moon as such exploitation is about to become feasible." How can anyone know when such exploitation is about to become feasible unless and until such feasibility is demonstrated by profitable operations? Thus, such a profitable activity should precede the establishment of a regime.

If this logic were not enough to convince an international legal scholar of the nonexistence of a moratorium, one would examine the travaux preparatoires, the preparatory work associated with the Moon Agreement, to find the intent of its text. The statement of U.S. representative Hosenball on 16 July 1979, once UNCOPUOS had finalized the text of the Agreement, was the last word on the subject in the official record of the negotiations:

[The agreement] places no moratorium upon the exploitation of the natural resources on celestial bodies, pending the establishment of an international regime. This permits orderly attempts to establish that such exploitation is in fact feasible and practicable, by making possible experimental beginnings and, then, pilot operations, a process by which we believe we can learn if it will be practicable and feasible to exploit the mineral resources of such celestial bodies.

As Hosenball testified before the Space Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives, "These statements by the United States were not contradicted and constitute a part of the legislative history of the treaty negotiations." This in itself should be sufficient to prove the intent of the Agreement beyond a reasonable doubt; however, the report by which UNCOPUOS transmitted the Agreement to the UN General Assembly contained a further statement regarding this issue:

Following a suggestion for further clarification of article VII, the committee agreed that article VII is not intended to result in prohibiting the exploitation of natural resources which may be found on celestial bodies other than the Earth but, rather, that such exploitation will be carried out in such manner as to minimize any disruption or adverse effects to the existing balance of the environment.

When the General Assembly voted to commend the Moon Agreement to Member States for signature and ratification, it also commended to them this understanding, as UNCOPUOS delivered them together in the same report. No contrary interpretation of the Moon Agreement has any legal validity.

As they say on late night television advertisments, "But wait, there's more!" The same UNCOPUOS report the the General Assembly included a blanket disclaimer:

No provision of this Treaty shall prohibit the
exploitation of natural resources which may be found on celestial bodies.

Wayne White should know all of this, since I presented to him as a gift in 2009 a copy of my book, The Development of Outer Space: Sovereignty and Property Rights in International Space Law, in which I made these arguments. I do not see where he has refuted me, and it saddens me to see that he continues to serve a repeater station in the tired old propaganda network against the Moon Agreement. To the extent that there is uncertainty in international law regarding property rights in outer space, it is those who misinterpret the law that is on the books, and in particular those who advocate killing treaties, who generate a great deal of that uncertainty, and to the extent that this uncertainty depresses investment in commercial outer space enterprises, they should reflect on their effect.

Despite the title of his Space Review article, he devotes surprisingly little space to discussing his proposed Space Pioneer Act. From his brief description I would say tentatively that I favor it in principle. White and I actually occupy a great deal of common ground with regard to the values that outer space law should uphold and the goals that it should encourage achievement of where possible. As an example, I agree with him that pursuant to the Outer Space Treaty, "Parties have no jurisdiction to grant or recognize permanent titles to territory." Although White shies from citing specifics and mentions only that "several proposals for space property rights have been publicized," it follows that Alan Wasser's proposed Space Settlement Prize Act would violate the Treaty.

It is my understanding that these days White's efforts are more directed toward national legislation, whereas my work is in international law. Summoning a concert of national space legislation that plays well together will be no easy task, any more than concluding new international space agreements, but one track reinforces the other. The extant treaties provide a coherent framework of principles for national laws to implement in greater specificity, while new national laws, such as a reworked version of the ASTEROIDS Act on which the U.S. Congress held hearings this year, will build momentum for negotiating the five-letter "R" world -- the regime -- to ensure that all nations play by the same basic rules and procedures in the international environment of outer space.

But White says, "The Space Pioneer Act is something we can do right now, to provide for our future." OK… so, where is it "right now?" And, as Tonto said to the Lone Ranger, who's "we," White man? Has White written this wonderful piece of legislation to secure our future? If so, where is it? If not, is he proposing that someone else write such a piece of legislation? The subjunctive mood that he uses in his final paragraph, referring to an act that "would" include a laundry list of this and that, suggests that all he has brought to the table is the title of an act, which is no more useful than suggesting that "someone" write a Shakespeare play titled Macbeth, Part II.

Популярная мусыка космического веча:CD 75 (2003 г.)

The annual global celebration of "Yuri's Night," commemorating the April 1961 flight of Vostok 1, increases in popularity every year. As we enter the second half-century of human spaceflight, it is a time to reflect on the development of global space culture. It began in the 1950's as two distinct cultures--Soviet and American--reflecting the Cold War rivalry that fueled the Space Race. In the intervening decades there has been a blending of these two initial cultures, other nations have added their cultural voices, and the center of the emerging global space culture has shifted. National space cultures have displayed different emphases on science fiction and UFO themes versus devotion to national astronautic accomplishments. These and other factors may be leading cultural indicators of the vigor of national space efforts and their relevance to the global thrust into the final frontier.

The researcher seeks co-researchers with backgrounds in cultural anthropology and musicology with a strong interest in space history. Of particular interest is collaboration with researchers who are familiar with space-themed music from non-English speaking cultures.

At present, the music collection of nearly 1500 tracks is organized chronologically into 100 segments, each approximating the running time of a compact disc (CD), which include voice clips of important events to provide historical context. The play lists are being rolled out incrementally as research continues. Most of the music can be found online and downloaded free of charge. In addition, a library of song lyrics is in development.

This is music to fly to Mars by. If you listened to one hour every day, you would almost be there at the end of this collection!

Популярная мусыка космического веча:CD 74 (2002 г.)

The annual global celebration of "Yuri's Night," commemorating the April 1961 flight of Vostok 1, increases in popularity every year. As we enter the second half-century of human spaceflight, it is a time to reflect on the development of global space culture. It began in the 1950's as two distinct cultures--Soviet and American--reflecting the Cold War rivalry that fueled the Space Race. In the intervening decades there has been a blending of these two initial cultures, other nations have added their cultural voices, and the center of the emerging global space culture has shifted. National space cultures have displayed different emphases on science fiction and UFO themes versus devotion to national astronautic accomplishments. These and other factors may be leading cultural indicators of the vigor of national space efforts and their relevance to the global thrust into the final frontier.

The researcher seeks co-researchers with backgrounds in cultural anthropology and musicology with a strong interest in space history. Of particular interest is collaboration with researchers who are familiar with space-themed music from non-English speaking cultures.

At present, the music collection of nearly 1500 tracks is organized chronologically into 100 segments, each approximating the running time of a compact disc (CD), which include voice clips of important events to provide historical context. The play lists are being rolled out incrementally as research continues. Most of the music can be found online and downloaded free of charge. In addition, a library of song lyrics is in development.

This is music to fly to Mars by. If you listened to one hour every day, you would almost be there at the end of this collection!

Популярная мусыка космического веча:CD 73 (2002 г.)

The annual global celebration of "Yuri's Night," commemorating the April 1961 flight of Vostok 1, increases in popularity every year. As we enter the second half-century of human spaceflight, it is a time to reflect on the development of global space culture. It began in the 1950's as two distinct cultures--Soviet and American--reflecting the Cold War rivalry that fueled the Space Race. In the intervening decades there has been a blending of these two initial cultures, other nations have added their cultural voices, and the center of the emerging global space culture has shifted. National space cultures have displayed different emphases on science fiction and UFO themes versus devotion to national astronautic accomplishments. These and other factors may be leading cultural indicators of the vigor of national space efforts and their relevance to the global thrust into the final frontier.

The researcher seeks co-researchers with backgrounds in cultural anthropology and musicology with a strong interest in space history. Of particular interest is collaboration with researchers who are familiar with space-themed music from non-English speaking cultures.

At present, the music collection of nearly 1500 tracks is organized chronologically into 100 segments, each approximating the running time of a compact disc (CD), which include voice clips of important events to provide historical context. The play lists are being rolled out incrementally as research continues. Most of the music can be found online and downloaded free of charge. In addition, a library of song lyrics is in development.

This is music to fly to Mars by. If you listened to one hour every day, you would almost be there at the end of this collection!

Популярная мусыка космического веча:CD 72 (2002 г.)

The annual global celebration of "Yuri's Night," commemorating the April 1961 flight of Vostok 1, increases in popularity every year. As we enter the second half-century of human spaceflight, it is a time to reflect on the development of global space culture. It began in the 1950's as two distinct cultures--Soviet and American--reflecting the Cold War rivalry that fueled the Space Race. In the intervening decades there has been a blending of these two initial cultures, other nations have added their cultural voices, and the center of the emerging global space culture has shifted. National space cultures have displayed different emphases on science fiction and UFO themes versus devotion to national astronautic accomplishments. These and other factors may be leading cultural indicators of the vigor of national space efforts and their relevance to the global thrust into the final frontier.

The researcher seeks co-researchers with backgrounds in cultural anthropology and musicology with a strong interest in space history. Of particular interest is collaboration with researchers who are familiar with space-themed music from non-English speaking cultures.

At present, the music collection of nearly 1500 tracks is organized chronologically into 100 segments, each approximating the running time of a compact disc (CD), which include voice clips of important events to provide historical context. The play lists are being rolled out incrementally as research continues. Most of the music can be found online and downloaded free of charge. In addition, a library of song lyrics is in development.

This is music to fly to Mars by. If you listened to one hour every day, you would almost be there at the end of this collection!

Популярная мусыка космического веча:CD 71 (2001 г.)

The annual global celebration of "Yuri's Night," commemorating the April 1961 flight of Vostok 1, increases in popularity every year. As we enter the second half-century of human spaceflight, it is a time to reflect on the development of global space culture. It began in the 1950's as two distinct cultures--Soviet and American--reflecting the Cold War rivalry that fueled the Space Race. In the intervening decades there has been a blending of these two initial cultures, other nations have added their cultural voices, and the center of the emerging global space culture has shifted. National space cultures have displayed different emphases on science fiction and UFO themes versus devotion to national astronautic accomplishments. These and other factors may be leading cultural indicators of the vigor of national space efforts and their relevance to the global thrust into the final frontier.

The researcher seeks co-researchers with backgrounds in cultural anthropology and musicology with a strong interest in space history. Of particular interest is collaboration with researchers who are familiar with space-themed music from non-English speaking cultures.

At present, the music collection of nearly 1500 tracks is organized chronologically into 100 segments, each approximating the running time of a compact disc (CD), which include voice clips of important events to provide historical context. The play lists are being rolled out incrementally as research continues. Most of the music can be found online and downloaded free of charge. In addition, a library of song lyrics is in development.

This is music to fly to Mars by. If you listened to one hour every day, you would almost be there at the end of this collection!

Популярная мусыка космического веча:CD 70 (2001 г.)

The annual global celebration of "Yuri's Night," commemorating the April 1961 flight of Vostok 1, increases in popularity every year. As we enter the second half-century of human spaceflight, it is a time to reflect on the development of global space culture. It began in the 1950's as two distinct cultures--Soviet and American--reflecting the Cold War rivalry that fueled the Space Race. In the intervening decades there has been a blending of these two initial cultures, other nations have added their cultural voices, and the center of the emerging global space culture has shifted. National space cultures have displayed different emphases on science fiction and UFO themes versus devotion to national astronautic accomplishments. These and other factors may be leading cultural indicators of the vigor of national space efforts and their relevance to the global thrust into the final frontier.

The researcher seeks co-researchers with backgrounds in cultural anthropology and musicology with a strong interest in space history. Of particular interest is collaboration with researchers who are familiar with space-themed music from non-English speaking cultures.

At present, the music collection of nearly 1500 tracks is organized chronologically into 100 segments, each approximating the running time of a compact disc (CD), which include voice clips of important events to provide historical context. The play lists are being rolled out incrementally as research continues. Most of the music can be found online and downloaded free of charge. In addition, a library of song lyrics is in development.

This is music to fly to Mars by. If you listened to one hour every day, you would almost be there at the end of this collection!

23 October 2014

Популярная мусыка космического веча:CD 69 (2001 г.)

The annual global celebration of "Yuri's Night," commemorating the April 1961 flight of Vostok 1, increases in popularity every year. As we enter the second half-century of human spaceflight, it is a time to reflect on the development of global space culture. It began in the 1950's as two distinct cultures--Soviet and American--reflecting the Cold War rivalry that fueled the Space Race. In the intervening decades there has been a blending of these two initial cultures, other nations have added their cultural voices, and the center of the emerging global space culture has shifted. National space cultures have displayed different emphases on science fiction and UFO themes versus devotion to national astronautic accomplishments. These and other factors may be leading cultural indicators of the vigor of national space efforts and their relevance to the global thrust into the final frontier.

The researcher seeks co-researchers with backgrounds in cultural anthropology and musicology with a strong interest in space history. Of particular interest is collaboration with researchers who are familiar with space-themed music from non-English speaking cultures.

At present, the music collection of nearly 1500 tracks is organized chronologically into 100 segments, each approximating the running time of a compact disc (CD), which include voice clips of important events to provide historical context. The play lists are being rolled out incrementally as research continues. Most of the music can be found online and downloaded free of charge. In addition, a library of song lyrics is in development.

This is music to fly to Mars by. If you listened to one hour every day, you would almost be there at the end of this collection!

22 October 2014

It's hard to believe, but the seventh most popular piece I ever posted on this blog was five years ago: "Do You Think Thomas Gangale Has Ever Had Phone Sex?" Even harder to believe is that this story is spiking this week for some unknown reason. Come on, man! I'm a sexagenarian. I've lived a intentionally eventful life. I've failed at more things than I've succeeded at, but it's hard for me to think of something I haven't tried.

I protested in the streets against the Vietnam War. Then I enlisted in the US Air Force.

I got married.

I was an air traffic controller in the US Air Force.

While a US Air Force ROTC cadet at the University of Southern California, I worked as a screen extra in Coming Home, an antiwar film starring "Hanoi Jane" Fonda.

I hated the commute from Hollywood, so I moved to South Central Los Angeles.

I invented the time map to display the history of manned spacecraft development in two-dimensional time.

I earned a bachelor of science in aerospace engineering (yes, in fact I am a rocket scientist) and a US Air Force commission.

I got divorced.

I was a US Air Force weapon systems officer on F-4 fighter jets. I have pulled Gs and have had the blood pool in my legs until they felt like water balloons. I have been seconds away from ejecting from an aircraft. I have flown faster than the speed of sound. I have filled a barf bag so much I nearly couldn't tie it off.

I got married. I fathered a son. I was born in San Francisco, as was my mother, both of her parents, and my mother's mother's mother, but my son was born back east... Oakland.

I was an engineering manager for payloads on two Space Shuttle missions.

I got divorced.

I invented a calendar for human colonists on Mars.

There are still some unmanned satellites that if I told you about them I would have to kill you, but I worked on the Gambit and Hexagon reconnaissance satellite programs, and these have finally been declassified. I also worked on a Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars) satellite program that was later cancelled.

I scuba-dived the Great Barrier Reef.

Four months after suffering a broken leg from being hit by a car, I ran the Dipsea Race seven miles up and down two spurs of Mount Tamalpais with my grandfather, who had won the race 54 years earlier; until I saw Forrest Gump, I had forgotten that as a small child I wore leg braces.

I got married.

I went to an unknown (but large) number of Grateful Dead concerts.

I invented a rational presidential primary system for the United States. Naturally, Iowa and New Hampshire hate it.

I characterized a class of orbits that I believe will be essential for maintaining communication between Earth and humans on Mars.

I rescued well over a hundred rabbits from people who thought they were cute gifts for their young children at Easter and who didn't give a shit about them a few months later. I also took in several laboratory rabbits after they ceased to be experimentally useful. I was shunned by the House Rabbit Society.

I drafted the first computer aided design drawings for a simulated Mars habitat in the Canadian Arctic.

I wrote the first scentific paper on animal husbandry in a Mars colony.

I got divorced.

I got married.

I protested in the streets against the Iraq War. I read Marx and Lenin. I was persecuted by and purged from the Sonoma County Democratic Central Committee.

I earned a master of arts in international relations.

I had myself tested for and was confirmed as having learing disabilities.

My work was published in a political science anthology along with John F. Kennedy and Sandra Day O'Connor, to name just a couple.

Although I am a heterosexual, as my long list of marriages to women imperfectly attests, I had phone sex with California Democratic Party chairman Art Torres when he bitched me out over an incident that had occurred at the state party convention a few days earlier. "What the fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck are you doing! Fuck fuck fuck!" I kept addressing calmly him as "sir" until he calmed down, and finally he ended the conversation with "Don't call me sir! I'm your friend!" This is how my friends talk to me; imagine how well received I am by my enemies.

On the same day I was interviewed on both right-wing and left-wing radio: by Paul Weyrich, co-founder of the Heritage Foundation and host of The Right Hour, and by Peter B. Collins on Air America.

I have written opinion editorials in the Philadelphia Enquirer, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner, San Jose Mercury News, Marin Independent Journal, and most importantly, the Berkeley Daily Planet, all the while remaining mild mannered.

I have authored and published two books, and I am working on ... uh, several more. One reviewer likened me to a slave-owner of the Old South. My wife claims a small portion of African blood, but she passes.

San Francisco hailed my great-grandfather a hero for commanding a firefighting company in 1906; I was roughed up and threatened by firefighters at the Grand Canyon, and when I filed a compliant with the county sheriff, I was criminally charged by the county attorney.

I have a cabin in North Star Borough and live under the Southern Cross. I have stood in the eye of a Category 3 hurricane and glimpsed the stars.

While living in the Kingdom of Tonga, my dog was killed in the middle of the night, cooked and eaten. Several Tongans have threatened to have me deported, although I have yet to be threatened with cannibalism.

I have drafted an international legal instrument for delimiting outer space and national airspace.

I have drafted an international legal instrument to replace the failed 1979 Moon Agreement.

I have drafted an international legal instrument to define property rights on celestial bodies.

I have drafted an international legal instrument to establish a tribunal to settle disputes in outer space.

I have drafted a United Nations General Assembly resolution and three international legal instruments to protect historical sites on the Moon and other celestial bodies.

I have drafted two international legal instruments to prohibit several types of anti-satellite weapons.

A few days ago the Tongan police wanted to take me downtown and fingerprint me because someone allegedly was bitten by an unknown dog in the field next to my residence.

Currently I am working on characterizing a new class of round-trip trajectories between Earth and Mars.

I hope to earn a PhD somewhere someday, but I must find a school, unlike UC Berkeley or UC Davis or Standord, that won't turn me down because I'm too old.

So there you have it: "A Brief History of Tom," a complete unknown, a rolling stone, fifteen minutes of fame now and then. I leave it to your fertile imagination as to whether I had phone sex with Hillary Clinton while Bill was occupied with a certain other matter elsewhere in the White House, or whether, as a supporter of SETI, I have had phone sex with extraterrestrials (the way they wrap their wet tentacles arounf the handset... ooh-h-h-h!). What the hell do I care what you think? I'm rather busy, and your reading this is strong evidence that you are not.

Популярная мусыка космического веча:CD 68 (2000 г.)

The annual global celebration of "Yuri's Night," commemorating the April 1961 flight of Vostok 1, increases in popularity every year. As we enter the second half-century of human spaceflight, it is a time to reflect on the development of global space culture. It began in the 1950's as two distinct cultures--Soviet and American--reflecting the Cold War rivalry that fueled the Space Race. In the intervening decades there has been a blending of these two initial cultures, other nations have added their cultural voices, and the center of the emerging global space culture has shifted. National space cultures have displayed different emphases on science fiction and UFO themes versus devotion to national astronautic accomplishments. These and other factors may be leading cultural indicators of the vigor of national space efforts and their relevance to the global thrust into the final frontier.

The researcher seeks co-researchers with backgrounds in cultural anthropology and musicology with a strong interest in space history. Of particular interest is collaboration with researchers who are familiar with space-themed music from non-English speaking cultures.

At present, the music collection of nearly 1500 tracks is organized chronologically into 100 segments, each approximating the running time of a compact disc (CD), which include voice clips of important events to provide historical context. The play lists are being rolled out incrementally as research continues. Most of the music can be found online and downloaded free of charge. In addition, a library of song lyrics is in development.

This is music to fly to Mars by. If you listened to one hour every day, you would almost be there at the end of this collection!

21 October 2014

A few days ago, I wrote about an incident that occurred on a Saturday evening nearly three weeks ago in Nuku'alofa. I went out of my house to investigate why dogs were barking, I saw several young men throwing stones at a dog, and I went to break it up. These young men appeared to be part of a crowd of more that a dozen people who had gathered in a field adjacent to our house. As a caretaker of the property, I have no objection to people assembling peaceably, but I certainly object to cruelty against animals. The dog, already provoked and fearing for its safety, managed to cull a toddler from the human herd and nipped her on the lower back. When Marilyn rendered first aid, she saw that the girl's skin was red where it had been pinched, but it was not broken. The child's mother thanked Marilyn for her kindness and concern.

The dog, frightened as is was, had showed admirable restraint by employing a proportionate use of force. Nevertheless, what had been a peaceful crowd suddenly became an unruly and ugly mob that for some reason decided that I was to blame for the dog biting the girl because I had intervened to stop several young men in their number from throwing stones at the dog. Would this mob have turned against a fellow Tongan, or was their rage directed against my white skin? Of course, it would be a prodigy for a Tongan to object to throwing stones at a dog.

The customary governmental function regarding animal control in Tonga is for the police to shoot a dog that has been accused of biting a human. It might be any dog that gets shot absent proof that a specific dog was involved; I imagine that the mere accusation is sufficient, no due process is afforded to the accused, because almost no one in Tonga cares about a dog.

I am not accountable for every dog that wanders through the field next to our house. I have no idea what dog was involved in the incident in the dimming light nearly three weeks ago. As darkness descended, the police arrived to disperse the mob, and I thought that was the end of it. No one was injured.

Two days ago, four police detectives showed up at our house and told us that the mother of the toddler had filed a complaint against Marilyn and me... a criminal complaint! It is not my purpose to dwell upon the treachery, spitefulness, and greed of this despicable woman; rather, I wish to address the actions of the detectives. First of all, I will emphasize that they were polite to us throughout; nevertheless, I was outraged, not simply by this woman's baseless accusation after Marilyn had attended to her daughter with the common compassion of a Christian, I was outraged when the detectives insisted that we must go with them to the downtown police station to write a statement... and to be fingerprinted no less!

Marilyn and I responded that we would do no such thing, that we would not cooperate without our attorney being present. One of them insisted, "This is our procedure. This is Tongan law."

I put my wrists together so that he could handcuff me. "Come on, let's do it."

The detective backpedalled. "We don't want to do that. We respect you."

I told them that they could get our fingerprints from the US Government; the armed services fingerprinted us when we served on active duty.

We immediately attempted to reach our attorney by telephone. We also spoke to a friend who is standing for a seat in Tonga's Legislative Assembly in next month's election. Marilyn and I also discussed telephoning Grant O'Fee, the police commissioner. At that point, the detectives dropped their insistence that we go with them downtown. They asked us for identification, which we produced; they wrote some things in their notebooks and they departed.

"This is our procedure. This is Tongan law." I say that this is absolute rubbish! As a former protectorate of the British Empire, Tonga's legal tradition derives from British law. In the main, the rights of anyone on Tongan soil are the rights of an Englishman or of an American. The detectives could not have compelled us to go to the police station, as that would have been arrest without warrant, and since we were not in the act of committing any crime when the detectives arrived at our house, it would also have been arrest without probable cause. Neither could the police have compelled us to make any statement, whether written or verbal, as we have the right to remain silent.

What is going on in Tonga? Are citizens and legal residents not protected by the rule of law? This sort of police behavior has been illegal in the United States since the Supreme Court's Miranda decision. But in Tonga, police get away with it, it is their "procedure," because Tongans live in awe of government and they are not under any circumstances ever advised of their rights.

Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of the government. The history of liberty is a history of resistance.

Популярная мусыка космического веча:CD 67 (2000 г.)

The annual global celebration of "Yuri's Night," commemorating the April 1961 flight of Vostok 1, increases in popularity every year. As we enter the second half-century of human spaceflight, it is a time to reflect on the development of global space culture. It began in the 1950's as two distinct cultures--Soviet and American--reflecting the Cold War rivalry that fueled the Space Race. In the intervening decades there has been a blending of these two initial cultures, other nations have added their cultural voices, and the center of the emerging global space culture has shifted. National space cultures have displayed different emphases on science fiction and UFO themes versus devotion to national astronautic accomplishments. These and other factors may be leading cultural indicators of the vigor of national space efforts and their relevance to the global thrust into the final frontier.

The researcher seeks co-researchers with backgrounds in cultural anthropology and musicology with a strong interest in space history. Of particular interest is collaboration with researchers who are familiar with space-themed music from non-English speaking cultures.

At present, the music collection of nearly 1500 tracks is organized chronologically into 100 segments, each approximating the running time of a compact disc (CD), which include voice clips of important events to provide historical context. The play lists are being rolled out incrementally as research continues. Most of the music can be found online and downloaded free of charge. In addition, a library of song lyrics is in development.

This is music to fly to Mars by. If you listened to one hour every day, you would almost be there at the end of this collection!

About Me

Thomas Gangale holds a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California and a master's degree in international relations from San Francisco State University. He was both an airman and an officer in the US Air Force, serving as an air traffic controller and an F-4 weapon systems officer. Also while on active duty, he served on the technical management teams of several satellite projects of the highest national priority involving national technical means of verification of strategic arms control agreements, as well as a Strategic Defense Initiative satellite program and two Space Shuttle payloads (STS-4 and STS-39). He has published numerous articles in aerospace and social science journals, has presented papers at several aerospace symposia, has written opinion editorials in major metropolitan newspapers, and has appeared as a guest on radio talk shows. He is a leading authority on timekeeping systems for other planets, and is the inventor of a class of orbits that will be essential to communication between Earth and crews in the vicinity of Mars. He is the author of the American Plan for reforming the presidential nomination process.